KADDISHEL
A Life Reborn
Toward the end of her life, we brought Ruthie’s mother, Ger- trude, to an excellent UJA/Federation facility on Long Island, the Gurwin Geriatric Center. She lived there for eighteen months un- til she died at the age of ninety-two. After about ten years, Helen moved to Long Island to be near her children, where she lived in the Franklin Hospital Nursing Home until she died. The management at Templet changed after I had been working there for almost twenty years. The new management decided to relocate the company to New Jersey. I opposed the move for busi- ness reasons and resigned; not only was the move a poor business decision, but I did not want to move my family. My wife was work- ing, my children were in school, and we were established in our synagogue. I was not going to follow what I believed to be a failing venture. And that is exactly what happened. Templet moved to New Jersey and went bankrupt within two years. Templet abandoned its metal stamping operation, as part of its move, in order to concentrate on electronics and solar water heat- ers. The stamping operations were sold to a Brooklyn company named Lomart Industries, which was a big outfit known for man - ufacturing stainless steel swimming pool filters. Lomart also had a stamping operation that they wanted to expand. They were eager for me to come work for them. I told them I would think about it and let them know. I started a job with Grumman, a large aerospace firm on Long Island, but within a week realized that I could not adjust to the way they did business. I resigned and went to join Lomart in Brooklyn. They were happy to have me. I worked there for a few years, and though the job was good, commuting to Brooklyn was difficult. We had always been active with the United Jewish Appeal. One day, at the kickoff of the eastern Long Island annual campaign, I sat at a table with other dignitaries and businesspeople. One of them offered me a job at General Aerospace, a large metal dis - tribution company that sold mostly to aircraft manufacturers all over the country, such as Grumman and Fairchild. By then, I had become an expert in buying steel and was familiar with every type
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